Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-11-10
KEEPERS OF MILLIONS.


l saw in Broadway .horse-car in
New York one evening not long since
tall. fne-looking man accompanied
by messenger boy. The latter car
ried small package in strong. thick
paper bound with stout string. 1t
might have contained any thing-a
pair of shoes or bundle of laundry
but it didn't. There were in it FIVE
hundred bonds of the Missouri Pacific
railroad which were being c4rried in
this apparently careless way tn the
house of Mr.. George Gould. That oc-
currence has been repeated many
times. The man who thus carried
openly large fortune and had it with
in his power to handle without re-
strictiOn riches to such an enormous
amount that the sum contained in the
package was a mere tritle in cOmpar-
ison is the president of well-known
bank-note company.
l had occasion to call upon him the
other day and questioned him as to
the position he occupied and the trust
necessarily reposed in him by wealthy
men and corporations. l was amazed
olearn that he had it in his power to
handle enormous sums of money with
out being placed under any actual
practical surveillance. In one way
and another he had the access to Sc
curities amounting to hundreds of
millions of dollars. At times there
were in his possession negotiable Sc
curities the par value of which would
amount to more than $500, 600. COO.
Besides these. he had under his
private lock and key the plates from
which the bonds of nearly all the
prominent railroads and corporations
Of the country could be duplicated.
Bank notes of nearly all the countries
of the American continent passed
through his hands, and the means of
reproducing them were within his
power If he desired to use this pow
er he could for a long time escape at
tracing any attention, and before his
crime could be discovered he could
have possessed himself of an enormous
fortune and have disappeared beyond
the reach of the law.
That such shrewi and wary finan-
ciers as George Gould and Russell
Sage, both of whom are directors in
this bank-nOte company, should place
SO much confidence in one man seems
startling at first thought. 1t would
appear to argue that they had an
amount of confidence in human nature
that no one has yet supposed them to
possess. That corporations and gov
ernments should place it within the
power of one man to rob them of start
lingly large sums of money seems as
founding. But the fact is that there is
no choice in the matter. The bank
note business in this country is all con-
Quoted in the same manner. and the
same confidence is reposed in the head
of each concern.
While the most careful safeguards
are placed about the minor employees,
the head of the company is almost en-
tirely unchecked. While the employees
are locked up in the workshop. in ease
a single piece of paper used for bank
notes or bonds should be missing, I'M
til it is found, the president carries
about him the keys to safes containing
enormous amounts of money. His OPP
portunities are far greater for fraud
than are those of bank cashier or
president. inasmuch as the last two
are always Il check upon each other,
and the amount of money ut their dis
posal is never so great.
The president in question laughed as
| asked him how it happened that
business of such magnitude should be
conducted in apparently such care
less manner
1.-The position of president of such a
company" he said, lis one of great on
or in the business world. No man
vol be given such pos ton whose
probity was not thoroughly known
throughout business circles. and whose
character was not entirely without
blemish. Such man would accent
the position simply because of the hon.
or it would reflect upon him. The sal-
airy would not by any means recon-
pense him for the responsibility he in
ours. That being the case, he would
not submit to being placed under
checks or restricted in his powers. He
is. of course. always prepared with ac-
curate statements of his business af-
fairs when the directors of the compa-
ny require them, but these are neces-
sarily merely nominal checks. 1t
would be an affront to such man to
suspect him of abusing his powers, and
he would not accept the position if he
had any reason to suppose that his
footsteps were being logged by detect
YES. That. however, would be the only
tactical check upon him.
Yet. am told. there has never been
single instance in the history of bank
note companies in this country of dis